Money Monday! You are who you hang with

Who are your 5 closest friends?

Over the past few years I've been told by many mentors you are who you hang with; the reflection of your 5 closest friends. Not until the past few months have I really taken this to heart and started making changes. It's not about who makes the most money as many people think it's about the quality of the person you're surrounding your self with.

Here are a few things you can do to determine if you're closest 5 are a positive or negative in your life....

• Take a look at your 5 closest friends write out pros and cons about having them in your inner 5 and evaluate if they are an asset or liability and if their habits, personality or goals line up with yours...
• Pros: Gives good advice, I admire them, does what they say
• Cons: Always late, lots of drama, no goals, bad money habits 
• Do you feel comfortable talking about your dreams, money, passions with your 5? If not this is not a good sign these are important topics when stepping into the unknown
• If you feel drained when get done hanging out with your friends this is a sign they are energy "suckers" you always feel tired after you hang out with them this can be exhausting to you; I suggest limiting your time spent with this person
• Topic of conversation: if you're serious about building a business, having goals and accomplishing them then you have to have quality conversation! If all you can talk about is what is on TV and you don't watch TV it will make it difficult to fit this type of person into your success driven future
• Always think you dream "to much" or they bash your ideas, goals this can be dangerous because you will start to doubt your self and pull away from your dreams and get off track

Now please don't think I am saying never talk to these people again or be mean and nasty to them because they just don't have the same dreams, goals or ideas as you it's ok. These people are still important part of your life they will be your supporters and  you will always need support.

Surround your self with people who you can share ideas with, have quality conversation, feel like you can learn something from them, they have big goals and dreams; motivated there are so many good qualities in people you just have to find the ones that are in sync with you and your goals.

Money Monday! Be organized!

Money Monday biz tip is to be organized! As I am journeying into my new entrepreneurial adventure I've noticed that I'm not as organized as I would like to be. I started to notice how important it is to have certain things ready at all times; for example: having a place to take notes either via paper; i pad or some sort of way to take notes quickly; having your business card on hand at all times this is even more important when attending an event always be ready; also have a place for your files or important documents weather it's on your computer or hard copy have them in a certain place so it's easy to access them at all times. These are  just a few simple things to start doing as your develop a system to be organized. It's also helpful to set aside time each week to "re-organize" meaning take a few hours each week on one day a week mine for example is Sunday evenings and Tuesday mornings the reason I chose these days is Sunday evening is a good time to review the week ahead and Tuesday mornings I organize my "admin" items. I split these two up because it's easier for me to plan what admin items need to be done and then get those done while on Sunday evenings I plan the events or activities for the week. Some people knock everything out at once for me it just takes a bit more time then I have during my "get organized" times. Here are a few things you can do to get organized....

1) Get a calendar either via phone, computer, or hard copy one you can have access to quickly
2) Mark important things on your calendar come up with a schedule for your self ( Here are few of mine)
    *Working out
    *Study time: I always take time to study either a new language, more health information, or cooking
    *Appointment times
3) Set-up a filing system; get a filing cabinet to file important documents; then label the folders
4) Create a system for tracking profit and expenses using a spreed sheet or a software like quickbooks
5) Create a morning routine... This is so important to me since becoming an entrepreneur; with out my morning routine to get me up and my day started things tend to fall behind or I get lazy if I don't have an appointment for the day
6) Set goals; this will help you create your schedule now that you have things to get done/ accomplished
7) Make a work space; I work out of my home and I quickly found out that the couch can't be considered a "working environment" so I bought a desk from Ikea an set up a small office space in my room; this made a huge difference in my organization

8) Pick a day of the week that best fits your working schedule to take time to plan for the next 7 days or week it's very helpful to plan head and be prepared this will play a major role in being organized is having a plan and being ready for following week
9) Stay on schedule sometimes things don't go as we planned that's fine but in order to stay organized it's important to stay on schedule! Let's say your 1 pm cancelled find out what can take that place do it and be ready for the 2 pm appointment don't get lazy now that things didn't go as planned.
10) Keeping track of contacts seems easy to some but when you have 10-15 new business cards a day coming at you it will be very helpful to schedule in time to "organize your new contacts" come up with a system. I use google contacts it's simple and easy to sync with my devices.

Those are just a few simple tips to help keep you organized and to start your journey of becoming organized... Hope this helps as it's what I do and I feel I am pretty well organized. Feel free to offer more tips in the comments as I would love to hear what you do stay organized!

Money Monday: Dream Board

Money Monday's biz tip is to create a dream board. 

  Creating a dream board will help you stay motivated! The reason I say to create one is because running a business is not easy and at times we feel like giving up and saying forget about it. I believe if the dream is big enough the drive will be there! The dream board will remind you why you get up at 5 am to get to that meeting, why you stay up late because you have a child and still have emails to return, it will remind you why you have to keep moving forward! Here is a picture of mine :)

Money Monday Biz Tip

DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!

The reason I wanted to speak on this today is that in my health coaching online course this weekend I heard a story about a lady that was doing nothing with her life; was hooked on sugar; and had no direction. She said she got involved in becoming a health coach and it built confidence and gave her direction. Once her journey began just as mine did there were alot of people telling her no and that her ideas where not going to work. This brings me to my point. "what you believe you will achieve" we all know this to be true but I don't think many people have a clear understanding of this... I'm saying if you think you will never get a "yes" then you're correct. Just move forward and focus on the vision at hand they might say no to your crazy idea at first but if you show you have not stopped working towards your goals/ visions and that same no person comes back around they will end up wanting you more then you need them!

NEVER TAKE NO AS AN ANSWER! No you can't do that; no you can't do this...
well I am here to tell you they are wrong!! YOU CAN! The answer is YES!!!

Money Monday Biz Tip: Haters are motivators!

Haters are motivators by mickigram featuring pave jewelry

Eddie Borgo pave jewelry
$525 - cultstatus.com.au

Let your haters be your motivators... Now I am not referring to JUST the people who talk bad about you behind your back; I am speaking on the people closest to you! So you have started a business for the 10th time or the first time and you're excited and telling everyone about your great new venture...( I am speaking from experience on this situation) These people close to you will say things like; "Are you sure that's a good idea;" or "WHAT IF....it doesn't work/ you don't make money" and so on. Don't mind them they will try and convince you that they are just looking out for you.... The issue with listening to these people is they are not entrepreneurs and risk takers like you are! You wouldn't get advice from some one over weight if you're trying to lose weight would you?? NOPE

What people don't realize is they are taking a bigger risk by NOT doing what they love; trying new things; and stepping out into the "unknown" they are risking having to work a 9-5 long after they retire and they also risk hating what they do for a living their entire life.

Take risks what else are you going to do?? Listening to the 99% of people who are on auto pilot will keep you in the box you're pushing so hard to break free from!

ESCAPE THE RAT RACE!! BELIEVE IN YOUR SELF

Money Monday's Biz Tip

Are you still doing the same thing you were doing 5 years ago?!?!

If you're still doing the same thing as you were 5 years ago then you're going out of business. I say this with confidence as I have seen many "small business" flourish when they started and then once technology started to become more and more popular and important if the small business didn't adapt to the new tech world it would simply go out of business. Example people don't use phone books; news paper, snail mail like they used to; these days people are using email, internet and social media to communicate and advertise...

Time to try something new! There are so many ways to quickly adapt to the new age advertising and business models... Here are a few example

SOCIAL MEDIA...
Facebook adds: You can pay for simple adds that will target a specific group of people from age, gender and so on.

Youtube: A great way to do viral videos and create a face to face approach with out actually being face to face. I love youtube personally here is my channel check it out to get an idea...My Youtube Channel

As I said in the last Biz Tip it's important to pick one social media and master it then add another one.

E-MAIL...

This is a great way to create a following and provide information for your customers. It will allow you to have customers "opt in" your email system and avoid spamming your customers.  This is very important when building a email list you will be rated well on search engines if you have a good rep with consumers when emailing newsletters. There are so many programs to use; but I use Aweber for my email campaigns and newsletters.

These are just a few great ways to adapt to the new age business communications.  

Please comment below if you have questions I'd be happy to skype or email anytime!

Always be aware of the new technology and keep your business up to speed!!!